The Title IX lawsuit from a woman who accused ex-Wisconsin football star Quintez Cephus of sexual assault is dismissed

A federal judge in Madison has dismissed a woman's lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin over how it reinstated a Badgers football star who had been expelled for sexual assault.

U.S. District Judge William Conley on Tuesday granted UW's motion for summary judgment. The case of Jane Doe v. the Board of Regents of UW had been set to start trial Aug. 1.

In a 21-page order, Conley wrote that while he sympathized with Doe's feeling of "hurt and distrust," she has not shown enough to put the case to a jury.

One of Doe's attorneys, John Clune, said, "Though we are disappointed with the ruling, we appreciated many of the judge’s comments about the UW’s handling of the matter. The behavior was at best highly suspect and the judge’s order today hints at the same."

Doe may decide to appeal, Clune said. "Regardless of what happens, our client is proud that her case forced the Board of Regents to change the state rule so that rape victims can never be excluded from Title IX proceedings again. That alone was worth her efforts if nothing else."

Doe, then a freshman at UW, and a friend met then-Badgers wide receivers Quintez Cephus and Danny Davis at a campus bar in April 2018. They all went to the players' apartment, and Cephus and Doe had sex while she later said she was too intoxicated to consent.

She reported it as an assault, triggering Title IX procedures. Within days, Cephus was suspended from the football team and ordered to have no contact with Doe. That fall, after a Title IX investigation, UW found Cephus had committed sexual assault and sexual harassment. In early 2019, then-Chancellor Rebecca Blank upheld the findings and expelled Cephus.

In August 2019, a jury acquitted Cephus of criminal sexual assault charges, and within three weeks, Blank had vacated UW's finding of assault and granted his petition for reinstatement to the university and the football team.

Doe argued Blank's failure to consult Doe regarding Cephus' reinstatement violated Title IX rules. Her lawyers suggested Blank succumbed to both public and private pressure from fans, the football team and major donors to quickly reinstate Cephus, who now plays in the NFL.

That amounted to deliberate indifference to the sexual harassment she suffered, Doe argued, and discrimination on the basis of sex, because only males play football.

Conley found no law or rule required Blank to involve Doe in her decision about Cephus' reinstatement.

Blank said her decision was based on new evidence that was presented at the criminal trial that had not been available earlier to Title IX investigators at UW.

"Still, having emphasized the importance of and actually hearing from each party at every other stage of the disciplinary process, the suddenness of the reversal without any input from plaintiff appears to have been driven by at best a desire to avoid any arguable liability for having suspended and expelled (Cephus) in response to his acquittal on criminal sexual assault charges less than two weeks before, or at worst, a desire to get an important player back on the football field in time for the opening of UW’s football season," Conley wrote.

Doe says she endured fear and a hostile environment on campus once Cephus was acquitted. Conley found Doe did not make any specific showing that her harassment was so severe that it deprived her of access to the opportunities and benefits at UW. Her feelings of unfairness and discomfort is not enough, he wrote.

Rather, he wrote, Doe never saw Cephus on campus after the fall 2018 Title IX hearing, and completed her degree in under four years. She now attends law school.

As to the claim Cephus got favored treatment as a football player, Conley pointed to the actions UW did take against him — nearly immediate suspension, findings that he engaged in nonconsensual sex and sexual harassment, an affirmation of those findings on administrative appeal, and expulsion.

During her time as chancellor, Blank reviewed 10 petitions for reinstatement, including one other case involving sexual harassments. She only reversed prior findings once — in the Cephus matter.

Cephus also sued the Board of Regents, Blank and the Title IX coordinator, also alleging the university discriminated against him in how it investigated Doe's claims, in violation of Title IX. The university's motion to dismiss the case is pending.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lawsuit against UW over ex-football star Cephus sex scandal dismissed